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Metro Health has been awarded LEED certification for its new hospital, the adjacent central utility plant and an outpatient facility in Hudsonville.

John Ebers, sustainable business officer, said that the 208-bed, 452,000-square-foot hospital, which opened in Wyoming in 2007, is the first hospital in Michigan and one of as few as three nationwide to earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design recognition from the U.S. Green Building Council.

“From our research, it seems to be somewhat unique,” Ebers said. “I am only aware of a handful of hospitals outside the state of Michigan that have achieved this.”

Certification, the lowest of four levels awarded by the USGBC, is particularly difficult for inpatient health facilities, which have construction requirements that are sometimes at odds with building code regulations, Ebers said.

Metro Health received a $500,000 challenge grant toward the hospital’s $170 million cost from the Kresge Foundation. Now that it has secured LEED certification, the foundation will donate another $150,000.

“We are extremely gratified to be recognized for our efforts to build an environmentally friendly hospital,” Metro Health President & CEO Mike Faas said in a prepared statement.

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